User blog:Saikou The Lewd King/Personal Yume 2kki Theories
Just a blog to put in words my theories regarding Yume 2kki. Despite the fact that I call them "theories", a lot of them rely on a lot of speculation and making-shit-up, so they're closer to mini-fanfics under the guise of theories. Obviously, spoilers ahead. Yume Nikki, Yume 2kki and .flow are linked Now, this one's probably gonna be the wildest. Like, a lot of making-shit-up will be involved, so it would be the closest to a fanfiction resume than anything. But still, I've also included some of the theories down here as a whole for this one. Here goes nothing. First off: the nature of the Dream World. One may think that it is merely the unconscious imagination of a girl. What if it was more than that? A mix of an entity and of another dimension, living outside of the universe and with limited influence on our world. It must feed on angst and general negative emotions to grow stronger. And one of the easiest ways to do this is to connect with a human from our world. A human "connected" to the Dream World will have their spirit and mind displaced to the Dream World in their sleep. The Dream World itself changes its shape and size to match the subconscious of the "host". As the Dream World connects with hosts suffering from previous trauma more often than not, it thus becomes a scary and intimidating place, stirring up the trauma in the human's mind and feeding the Dream World. Of course, as the Dream World's shape depends on the host's subconscious, the latter has some control over the Dream World as well. This control depends on the strength of the Dream World at the time, but also on the will of the host. This control manifests under the form of Effects, which the host can use to affect in limited ways the Dream World. Exceptionally strong-willed hosts will possess a lot of Effects, while weak-willed hosts will have less. How scary and dark the Dream World is depends on both the host's mindset and their previous trauma. Those with little to not past traumatic experience and a positive outlook on life will have a peaceful and calm Dream World, as the latter is unable to manifest any traumatic memories. Even someone with a lot of traumatic memories can make their Dream World peaceful and nice if their optimism is strong. It's unknown for how long the Dream World has existed, but its first manifestation since an extremely long time was in modern times, with a certain Madotsuki. We are in the 80s, somewhere in Japan. A 14 years old girl named Madotsuki lives with her parents. Not much is known about her life, but one thing is sure: She isn't happy. Her dad has been abusing her both physically, psychologically but most importantly, sexually. Her mom either tries to ignore the abuse or even helps her husband. The girl can only find respite in her games and with her piano teacher. But even that isn't enough. From the school she detests to her parents who abuse her, Madotsuki has enough. She takes the kitchen knife and commits the irredeemable on her parents. After realizing what she has done, Madotsuki flees her own home to hide in an apartment in the big city. With only one of her game and a diary, she locked herself up, knowing that the authorities would be after her. With not much else outside of playing NASU to do in this room, she spent most of her time sleeping. With a poor broken mind spending most of her time sleeping, the Dream World has the perfect opportunity for a first "victim". As such, Madotsuki's dreams were becoming more vivid and darker at the same time, like she was really there. Most notably, she kept stumbling upon past visions of her trauma. The disembodied limbs of her parents, memories of her abuse, etc. While she was living through her traumas, the Dream World was feeding. However, the creation of this "new" Dream World brought (lol tbc) The Eyeball Bomb Effect is contagious Although the Medabomb Effect serves a quite practical use of teleporting the user back to the Nexus, it also has tons of unique reactions from NPCs. Most of these reactions are either of those: *Negative Reaction (Mostly fear or hatred). This includes the Saturated Eyeball Men stopping you from using it on sight, the Character Plains reacting with a ! if you equip it, the Maple Shrine preventing its use (Alongside several "negative" effects) or the Crying Eyes looking angrily at you if you use it. *Growing an eye/eyes. This includes the Crying Eyes, Urotsuki's Clones, the Teacher in the Netherworld, etc. The second part is especially interesting. It makes many characters grow eyes, like itself. What if the Eyeball Bomb naturally made beings around it grow eyes, like a virus? It would explain why a lot of things seems to react negatively to it and why the Medabomb NPC itself is found so deep within the Dream, like it was hidden to prevent contagion. Though more of a stretch (Since this is an element found all over YN games), it could also explain the massive presence of eyes all over the Dream World, alongside cyclopic characters. Notably, the Saturated Eyeball Men react with the most violence out of all the NPCs. Given that, by now, they are nothing more than giant eyeballs on legs (and arms), they could be a race that has been exposed the most to the virus and thus are more familiar with its effects and danger. It's also worth noting that one-eyed things are often portrayed as negative in some places (The Underwater Puppet Show showing a single eye on the puppeteers for example). The Red Streetlights are organic and parasitic Yeah, more contagion. The Red Streelight World is notable due to its sheer emptiness. There is almost nothing but Red Streetlights there, with the only exception being Urotsuki herself and Odoriko and her rabbits. And all the areas they lead to contain at least one Red Streelight, randomly placed there. The appearance of the Red Streetlights itself is also important. All the Red Streetlights that act as portals to other places look mutated, almost diseased. They have "branches" growing out of random and unlikely places. This isn't something that should be possible with manufactured objects like streetlights and instead looks more similar to trees or plants. Although the Red Streetlights are mainly found in the Red Streetlight World, they are also prominently shown in the Red City. All the buildings there have the same red theme as the Red Streetlights themselves, alongside the background itself being black like the Red Streetlights World and the presence of the Red Streetlights themselves. What if this world was a world which was overgrown by the Red Streetlights? This would explain the total emptiness of both worlds and the hanged man in the Red City (killed himself to avoid being infected as well?). It doesn't help that both the Red Streetlight World and the Red City are portrayed in such a negative light (lol), with oppressive music, oppressive color scheme, and a hanged guy. If that's true, then the presence of Red Streetlights in the Nexus, the Gray Road and the Red Rock Caves is quite worrisome for the future of these places (or of the entire Dream World for the Nexus). As for the presence of Odoriko here, it could be that due to her being infected by the Eyeball Bomb virus already (see above) she is naturally immune to the infections caused by the Red Streetlights. Maybe. Marijuana Goddess, the Dark Room, and Tapir-san The Dark Room within the Marijana Goddess World is notable due to several of its characters having unusually solid relationships between each other. Yume is called "Director" twice in the Wallpaper titles, implying some degree of authority over other individuals of the Dark Room, Oni Musume is indirectly called the daughter of Yume in the Wallpaper titles again (makes you wonder how the mom looked like) and the Beret Twins are most likely, well, twins. This seems to hint towards the Dark Room being more of a solid organization rather than just a bunch of monsters hanging around in a room, and the purpose of said organization could be hinted at by its location. Indeed let's look at the Marijuana Goddess World and its eponymous Goddess. She is obviously associated with marijuana and drugs due to her full-screen event showing weed and her world containing some degree of LSD-ish imagery. However, the presence of her figure and theme song in the Underground Bar seems to hint that she is associated with mind-affecting substances in general, including alcohol. Her images being almost shrine-like also solidify her status as a deity or at least an important figure within those who sell/produce/consume such substances. It is also notable that Japan Town (and thus the Underground Bar) are directly linked through the Sewers, indicating a link between the two places. And once again bringing up the Dark Room having a more solid organization and Yume having authority over it, we can guess that the beings of the Dark Room have control over the distribution of such substances in the Dream World. Yeah, Yume being a drug dealer. That's a thing. Though more of a stretch, the fact that Farm World is roughly linked to the Dark Room could mean that the Farmer is responsible for the production of weed (or Japanese maple leaves but sssh). While Yume's main residence is in the Dark Room, he is also seen at Tapir-san's, casually hanging out. Tapir-san is, obviously, a Tapir, which are beings often known to eat dreams in Japanese folklore. His place also seems vaguely dream-themed, with many stars in his room and stomach. With Yume controlling the distribution of substances capable of affecting the mind and giving the consumers dream-like hallucinations, it wouldn't be such a stretch that Yume's presence in Tapir-san's place has connections to this, probably some sort of deal in order to prevent the two from overstepping their boundaries in their job or something. As a bonus, as Yume birthed a demon (Oni Musume), is portrayed as dark-ish and due to dealing with substances known to often lead humans to ruin, it is likely that Yume himself is a demon. Also, as a bonus-bonus, the Dark Room is directly linked to the world of Komorin (a demon). The latter's death seems to affect greatly another demon NPC in the Fairy Tales Wood. Thus, the Dark Room (and more specifically, Oni Musume) have ties to several demons, reinforcing the idea that Yume is a demo (who probably made the Dark Room linked to the Tribe Settlement so that his daughter can see her friends more easily). All Wataru maps are Chronologically linked Wataru's maps are quite something, aren't they? Unlike other contributors, which often link their maps with that of other contributors, Wataru's maps are one big road of his creations, with little branching paths and even fewer paths leading to other maps. This results in the player being forced to go through a large portion of Wataru's long and complex map, immersing yourself in the author's own world, separated from everything else. Not bad for a hentai artist. While I was confused at first by this wiki's usage of the words "soft post-apocalyptic" to describe Wataru's maps, I now think that this is the perfect way to describe his world(s). Nothing looks quite broken or damaged. There is rarely any visible causes for the end of the world. Everything just looks...abandoned. It makes you wonder what's the story behind those places. However, an attentive viewer may notice that some elements and even the general structure of such maps often reoccur within his maps. One of the most notable aspects of this is a peculiar sun-like statue, found laying around in several of his maps. This seems to hint towards a possibility of these maps being linked more than by its author, maybe even past/future versions of the same place. The first would be the Forest Pier. This world has the least amount of man-made structures and the highest amount of vegetation and ruins. The only structure there are the bridges lost within this immense forest. The ruins from whatever civilization was there before are still visible, with one of them being important: the sun statue. This is the first time we get to see it. It's huge and is laying on a local beach. The second would be the Deserted Pier. Although the bridges and water are still there, most of the forest was cut down, and only a handful of ruins are left. Instead, we are left with several more man-made structures such as houses and crosses, hinting at a possible colonization of the previous forest. The sun statue is visibly absent in this area. The third would be the Deserted Town. Following the Deserter Pier, the once forested area has become a town. The few houses found in the Pier have spread like mushrooms and covered the entire area. There is little vegetation left, with only grass growing on the paths being present. The original bridges are now gone, instead being replaced by horizontal ladders. Both the sun statue and the moon statue from the Forest and Deserted Pier respectively are back, floating on the puddles of water of the area. The fourth and final would be the Abandoned Apartments. The buildings have completely invaded the landscape, leaving no plants and little water. The buildings themselves have been upgraded from medieval looking to almost modern-looking. The only trace left of the previous civilization is the sun statue, lying pitifully on the roof of a building, almost a tenth of its original size. The area went from a forested, barely explored landscape to a gigantic city with almost no plant being visible anymore. These four areas really give a feeling of progression of time, with the areas even being placed in chronological order. Although an odd thing is that they all are abandoned. This fact makes no sense, as the very first area couldn't develop if it had been abandoned like that, thus making the future scenarios impossible. However, it's possible that those areas aren't a direct evolution of time but closer to a display of alternate futures, with each area displaying the same place being abandoned at different points in time. This would explain how all of them can be abandoned at once. Another consistent theme of Wataru's world is the surprise presence of surrealistic and oddly bright characters in his otherwise borderline realistic words. We have Coffeeman and some Pirori in the Deserted Town, the Music Box Creature in the Bottom Garden (who is likely connected to the Deserted Town), Big Red in the Abandoned Factory, Onsen-san in the Pillar World and the dog-thing in the Transmission Tower World. These characters would fit in the rest of the Dream World...not so much in Wataru's worlds. But considering that these areas are still connected to the rest of the Dream World, it's possible that beings from other dreams just ended up living in these areas, not caring about whether or not they're abandoned. It may explain the presence of vending machines in a medieval landscape too. They're a little drop of surrealism to remind you of what you're playing. A callback if you will. EDIT: I also noticed something that vaguely looks like an extremely distorted version of the Sun Statue in the Overgrown City. However, this map not only does not fit with the order of any of the maps above, but it also doesn't really fit anywhere on the timeline (Unless we place it between the Deserted Town and the Abandoned Apartments). The fact that the statue itself doesn't really look like its previous selves may indicate that the area is related but distinct from the other maps. EDIT 2: The Abandoned Factory possesses an extremely decayed version of the Sun Statue. Only the face is left now, and the scenery has been even more overtaken by the buildings than before. But unlike before, there is plant(?) life. It seems like it's finally starting to invade humanity, and not in a good way. It's not linked chronologically like the first four are, but it could still be linked. Urotsuki is a tomboy/suffers from gender dysphoria I'm gonna start by saying that I'm usually not a fan of theories that go "This character is secretly trans/gay/bi/whatever!!". Not only do they lack imagination, but they are often baseless and an attempt to force diversity into a story. But for once, I do support this theory, notably due to the number of proofs it has. First off, one may notice that generally, Urotsuki is quite a boyish girl. Her hairstyle is short (and kinda badass), she rides a motorcycle, uses a chainsaw, likes war games (see the FC Basement), etc. I know this is the kind of things that even girls can like/do, but it's still quite a large amount of elements towards it. Most importantly, however, is two effects. The Boy and Schoolboy Effects. Both of them turn Urotsuki into a boy, implying she dreams of becoming a boy. And these aren't just disguises either, given that the Boy Effect gives Uro a dick (see the toilets) and the Schoolboy Effect makes girls fall in love with her. In fact, her charming girls as a boy happens quite often. What made me truly vouch for the theory, however, is Urotsuki's interactions with the Mysterious Maid. I won't do a full theory about it, but I think that the Mysterious Maid represents a caretaker of Urotsuki. She appears taller than Urotsuki, gives her money (like a parent would give money to her child) and "disappears" if Urotsuki uses the Stretch Effect (caretakers "disappearing" when one grows up). Thus, how she reacts to Urotsuki's effects should reflect how her parents/caretaker react to various aspects of her. And her reactions to the Boy Effect and Schoolboy Effect are the same: she turns away from Urotsuki when talked to. This gives the impression of her mother refusing to look at her daughter becoming boyish or just outright a boy. This is a reaction that is shared by the Cake Effect, possibly hinting that her mom also doesn't want her to become fat. Or something. While none of that "proves" gender dysphoria, it at least makes it likely that Urotsuki has a masculine side to her that her parents don't approve of. Whether or not it's full on dysphoria is up to debate. EDIT: Something I noticed only afterward, but Seishonen seems to help this theory somewhat. Much like Urotsuki, this guy seems to have at least some degree of desire to become the opposite gender, with Seishonen wanting to be a girl. Indeed, when Urotsuki is seemingly not in the area (Invisible Effect), he will make sure he's alone before turning into a girl. If you force him to reveal his girl form with you being around (Glasses Effect), he runs away from you, like if he's afraid or ashamed of showing his true form. While if you're a boy (Boy Effect), he's strangely attracted to you. The fact that he's Urotsuki's closest neighbor and that his room is bright and positive may lead to think that he and Uro may have been close, with Seishonen maybe influencing Urotsuki's behavior. While the glitched room may indicate that things didn't end up so well for him, or that Urotsuki's perception of him shifted in a negative way. Urotsuki left her parents' home In most Yume Nikki fangames, the protagonist only has access to their rooms and refuses/is unable to get out. Thus, we don't really know if they're living on their own or if they're just stuck in one room of their houses. For Urotsuki, the answer seems more obvious than others. While we often see her Apartment Room in her dream. We can guess that it's her main "home". However, we also have access to another "home", which has nothing to do with the apartment: the Nostalgic House. The scenery is different, the structure is different, yet it's accessed from Urotsuki's head and has her shirt pattern all over the place. This seems to indicate that she has more than one. The Nostalgic House also has a picture of a woman with a censored face; possibly her mother, with the censored face indicating a conflict between the twos? But then we get to Ending #3. Instead of killing herself, she leaves her apartment and bikes to...another house? It's unlikely that she'd just leave her home to go to a stranger's house or something, so it's possibly that "other home" talked about earlier. Notably, you bike past a child Urotsuki and the egg that gives you the Child Effect, hinting at her going back to her childhood. As this is the ending where she refuses to kill herself, it's possible that this is her coming to terms with whatever plagued her and decided to go back to her own home and leaving her apartment behind. She's leaving her dreams and nightmares behind to face reality. Whatever caused her to leave her home and contemplate suicide is unknown, but as I've talked above earlier, it may have something to do with her gender dysphoria, which her parents may have reacted negatively to. Mini-Theories compilation Bunch of smaller theories that don't require an entire section but that I want to say anyway. Fear of Clowns and Religion?: Obviously, clowns are a recurring enemy in the game, but so are the places where they are naturally found. The Circus, the Underwater Amusement Park, the Forest Carnival, etc. are all deeply negative in portrayal. For the fear of religion, it's less religion in general and more specifically, Christianism in general. While Shintoism is portrayed as Neutral (with a slight negative side) to Good, the two only portrayals of Christianity in the game are outright negative. The Rose Church is dark and foreboding, while the Forest Carnival (which has heavy Christian themes) is melancholic at first, and then outright murderous and trap-like afterward. Clearly, she's not a fan. Yume 2kki takes place in Japan: Another easy one. There are far more Japanese things in 2kki than Nikki, such at least two effects, several Japanese-theme areas, Japanese texts, and voices all over, etc. One could argue that Urotsuki is just a weeb, but given how common and normal these themes are, it seems highly unlikely for me to just be that. Yume 2kki takes place in the late 90s to early 00s: Yume 2kki seems to like being Yume Nikki, but bigger or "better". Which means that instead of an NES, Urotsuki has a SNES! Instead of a diary, she has a computer!! This gives the impression of the game taking place after Yume Nikki. At the very least, we can say that the game probably takes place after 1996, as Urotsuki is familiar with 3-D graphics (Polygon Effect) and the Nintendo 64 came out that year. It's likely that she keeps her SNES for a variety of reasons instead of just buying an N64. But assuming that Urotsuki decently keeps up with new technology, it's likely that the game takes place before 2001, given that this is the release date of Windows XP (And her desktop certainly doesn't look like Windows XP). So, between 1996 and 2001 seems appropriate. Also worth noting that she dreams of Gameboys. 90s anyone? Everything was just a dream: It's a common theory in Yume Nikki that the whole game was just a dream, even the "real world". A theory that seems to have been more or less confirmed by -Dream Diary-. But this theory not only applies to Yume 2kki, but it fits even more. The game has many endings, many that contradict themselves and make no sense within the context of the game (Dream stuff manifesting in reality for example). But then, Ending #1 reveals to us that even the "Real World" is just another dream, with the absolute real Urotsuki sleeping on her rug. This would explain quite a lot of things, such as Urotsuki dreaming herself up to be a Doll, or dreaming up a mysterious floating train to come and get her, or dreaming that one of the plants of her dreams have corrupted her and leaked into the real world. If even the real world is just a dream, it would explain all the supernatural stuff. Megusuri' Uri & Dressing Room Maid:' Another easy one. The Maid of the Dressing Room and Megusuri Uri looks almost identical, except gender bent. One might also notice that their dwelling places are very similar, being in-door places with the same looping background as a floor. Now their relations is up to debate, but one might notice how Megusuri seems to be taking care of a young child, Hakoko. One might consider her to be their child, by blood or not, and that Megusuri is stuck taking care of her. Their distance and the fact that there is no easy way to go from one place to another may hint at a divorce or something similar. more coming soon to a [[Theatre World|theater] near you] Category:Blog posts